Learning from Comics

Tell students that like other media, we can also learn from comics.

Ask students if they know any examples of comics that they have learned from.

• The examples could be either non-fiction comics that are intentionally educational, or fiction comics that contain real facts about science or history.

Have students access the student chapter Learning from Comics or display it on a screen or digital whiteboard.

Have them answer read the comic (or read it together as a class) and then answer the questions in the Structure Strip.

Next, have students access the student chapter Making a Learning Comic and have them make a comic that demonstrates how to make a paper airplane.

• If students don’t know how to make a paper airplane, they should talk to you about other possible topics. Make sure that the alternate topics are simple and can be explained visually in a relatively small number of steps.

Once students have made their comics, have them form pairs and make paper airplanes following the instructions in the comic. Tell them that they can only do exactly what is explained and illustrated in the comic.

Finally, have them reflect on what choices they made in order to make them useful and educational.

• What different choices might they have made if they were making a comic about a superhero who could turn into a paper airplane, or a documentary about a champion paper-airplane maker?

You can have students record their reflections in the Structure Strip or using the Reflection Recorder.